The bullying of academics follows a pattern of horrendous, Orwellian elimination rituals, often hidden from the public. Despite the anti-bullying policies (often token), bullying is rife across campuses, and the victims (targets) often pay a heavy price.
"Nothing strengthens authority as much as silence." Leonardo da Vinci - "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men [or good women] do nothing." Edmund Burke

December 26, 2017

...It’s easier to blame the victim than change the system.
Abusers weaponize their own idiosyncrasies and parade them as high
standards, shaming anyone who falls short. That often sets in motion a
cycle of low self-esteem, late work, and less polished writing to prove
that the accuser, not the abuser, must be problem.

The feeling of
being unheard, untrusted, and not believed keeps the cycle spiraling
further out of control. Too many of my clients feel guilt creep into
their professional lives. Some can be quick to blame themselves. Others
hesitate to turn down requests to give a talk or contribute to a
journal, because they think they "owe" colleagues "favors" and will be
criticized for not delivering. This is often the legacy of chronic,
institutionalized abuse — of people breaking others rather than building
up their confidence and helping them be successful colleagues.

If
you find yourself saying, "Look, what he did was wrong, but really, her
work isn’t that good, anyway," or, "If she were strong, like me, she
would have stood up for herself," or, "If she didn’t have something to
hide, she would have spoken out" — you are part of the problem...

...My self-confidence, scientific progress and mental health were in
decline from the beginning. My supervisor belittled me in front of my
peers, derided me for enacting laboratory safety measures and denied me
the technical training I needed to gain traction in a new scientific
discipline. I recall silently sobbing as his large frame hulked over me,
and how he gesticulated wildly as he yelled, “Just do what I tell
you!”. That meeting lasted 90 minutes, the culmination of months of
relentless bullying from he, the principal investigator on our research project.

I walked out of that meeting resolving that no one would treat me
that way again. I wanted to complain to the university, so I sought to
follow institutional policy, only to find that it didn’t exist. Human
resources was completely ineffectual, lacking knowledge and training in
conflict resolution, contractual negotiation and my legal entitlement to
a safe workplace.

Desperate for help, I reached out to the university with which my
institute was affiliated. I was told that it could not offer me support
as I was not a member of university staff. Despite the existing
arrangement – the institute posing as independent entity and university
department, depending on which funding pool it wished to dip into – a
political distinction had been drawn, and I was left on my own...

That supervisor followed a pattern of systematic abuse of
predominantly female employees. The institute, its senior staff and the
university were complicit by failing to provide adequate support to the
victims, and for rewarding the supervisor with a position of power while
continuing to recruit vulnerable staff to place in his care. No amount
of scientific brilliance can excuse this behaviour.

Universities should have avenues for recourse against the
perpetrators of harassment at all levels, which the victims can access
without fear of reprisal, burden of proof or risk of personal or career
injury to the vulnerable party.

I would also have appreciated more support from my institution for
the mental health consequences of a bullying supervisor. Instead, I had
to rely on my personal network – my partner, friends and family.
Fortunately, I could afford the medical treatment I needed to return to
wellness. But not everyone is so lucky...

July 07, 2017

Academics are horrible to people that are more intelligent than they. I
graduated at the top of my class and suffered the entire time. Post grad
school I noticed they only hire and elevate people like
themselves, or that are less intelligent than themselves (so they can
feel superior to the new hire). Higher education has become the land of
the imbecile. They pat themselves on the back for bad ideas that have
lead to the dumped down, wrongly righteous, twisted-notioned-nation that
we have today. Academia needs to change, they have been
purporting the worst ideas for ages and now we have an entitled,
non-critical-thinking pile of people that can only work in groups (which
is rotten because the bossy bullies end up dictating the ideas) and
that are too afraid to take a stand against ideas many of them know are
lame or childish. It is sad how low higher education has become.

The University of Manchester has terrible bullying problems.
It is not just the academics, support staff have awful bullying
cultures among each other and with the academics too.
I am currently being bullied by women as a male in a support role. I am
the most vulnerable as I am on a probation period. The girl who has
decided to hate me from the start and make me suffer emotional and
mental torture is Hxxxxx Dxxxxx in FBMH. Her methods are under the radar
mental tactics. I hope you can sleep at night! I have complained to
higher management, however, they have sided with her and remain mostly
silent. I will soon leave and take all my skills and experience with me.

January 27, 2017

Some EU citizens living in Britain who decided to seek permanent
residency after the Brexit vote are being told to make arrangements to
leave. A number of these people are among the 31,000 EU academics
currently working in UK universities. Colin Talbot
says many are alarmed and some have already decided to leave – putting
the expertise of Britain’s universities in serious jeopardy.
“The UK’s university sector is one of our most valuable national
assets,” Prof Brian Cox, the University of Manchester academic and TV
presenter, told me last week. He argued that UK higher education “is a
genuinely global industry generating billions of pounds in export
earnings, one of the necessary foundations of our innovation-led economy
and perhaps our strongest soft power asset; political and industrial
leaders from all over the world were educated here in the UK.”

Which makes it all the more strange that the government should be –
whether accidentally or deliberately – undermining them. Most of
the Brexit commentary about UK universities has concentrated on issues
of funding, research cooperation and students. Much less attention has
been paid to what keeps universities running – academic staff – and what
Brexit will mean for the 30,000-plus EU academics in the UK.

I arrived at a meeting a couple of weeks ago and noticed one of my academic colleagues was visibly distressed.

When I asked what was wrong, they said they’d just had a very
alarming letter from the Home Office. Having lived and worked here for
more than two decades (they’re a national of another EU country) they
decided to play it safe after the Brexit vote and apply for leave to
remain. Big mistake.

They received a threatening letter from the Home Office saying they
had no right to be here and they should “now make arrangements to
leave”. The letter was obviously wrong – they had every right to be here
under existing UK law – but that didn’t lessen the emotional impact for
my colleague, whose whole future was suddenly thrown into uncertainty.

I had read similar stories in the press, and wondered how many other
academics might be affected, so I turned to Twitter to ask for any
similar experiences. The tweet I posted asking for examples was
retweeted – mostly by concerned academics – over 1,000 times. People
started writing to me with cases and I began digging into the issue.

The first thing that struck me was the level of fear, anger and
disgust – and in some cases resignation. I have disguised individual
cases – that’s because few people are willing to speak openly, such is
the degree of fear about what might happen after Brexit.

The impact on individuals
Some EU academics (along with others) who have been living and
working legally in the UK for years decided, after June 23, that they
should try to cement their position by applying for one or other of the
various routes to permanent residency. The procedures are daunting and
of Kafkaesque complexity – one form runs to 85 pages and requires forms
of proof that make acquiring Catholic sainthood look simple. As a result
many applications are failing – but it is the form of the rejection
that is causing much concern. A typical letter from the Home Office says
(in part):

“As you appear to have no alternative basis of stay in
the United Kingdom you should now make arrangements to leave. If you
fail to make a voluntary departure a separate decision may be made at a
later date to enforce your removal…”

This appears to be a fairly typical ‘prepare to leave’ letter,
variations on which have been sent to “failed” applicants – even though
they are currently here perfectly legally.

Even more worryingly, the decision on whether to accept or
reject these applications is based on the “Nationality, Immigration and
Asylum Act 2002 and Regulation 26 of the Immigration (European Economic
Area) Regulations 2006”, to quote the letter again. The latter will be
repealed in the Great Repeal Bill planned by the government, which could
rescind any ‘right to remain’ granted under existing law and
regulations.

Brian Cox sums up the situation very well when he told me:

“We have spent decades – centuries arguably – building a
welcoming and open atmosphere in our universities and, crucially,
presenting that image to an increasingly competitive world. We’ve been
spectacularly successful; many of the worlds finest researchers and
teachers have made the UK their home, in good faith. A few careless
words have already damaged our carefully cultivated international
reputation, however. I know of few, if any, international academics,
from within or outside the EU, who are more comfortable in our country
now than they were pre-referendum. This is a recipe for disaster.”

One academic told me: “the Home Office is hedging its bets because we
non-UK [academics] are now effectively hostages …”. A neuroscientist
from the EU at a top UK university reacted with defiance: “For what is
worth, I refuse to apply for a piece of paper [leave to remain] that I
don’t need and won’t be valid after Brexit – when current law says I
don’t need it. It’s just a certificate. They can stick their 85-page
form up their arses.”

The level of anxiety is obvious: “I’m about to submit my permanent
residency application. Any pointers from the rejections you’ve seen so
far? Scary times ahead…”. Another said: “as an Irish citizen I am
assuming the Ireland Act will continue to provide my right to be here.
But… “
A policy specialist from Oxford said “people have been turned down
for administrative reasons alone. The Home Office looks for any reason
to say ‘no’ at the moment.” Or as another, retired, academic puts it,
this is just “inhuman bureaucracy” at work.

How representative is all this? A recent survey of academics
conducted by YouGov for the University and College Union (UCU) found
that an overwhelming majority (90%) said Brexit will have a negative
impact on UK higher education. Three-quarters (76%) of non-UK EU
academics said they were more likely to consider leaving UK higher
education. A third (29%) said they already know of academics leaving the
UK, and over two-fifths (44%) said they know of academics who have lost
access to research funding as a direct result of Brexit.

The impact on universities
UK universities are heavily dependent on academics from the EU. To
cater for our global audience we need to attract the brightest and best
and Europe is, unsurprisingly, a major source for such talent. Over
31,000 UK university academics come from the EU – sixteen percent of the
total (all figures calculated from the Higher Education Statistics
Agency data for 2014/15).

But this national figure underestimates just how important EU
academics are to our top-rated universities. The London School of
Economics has 38% EU academic staff. Other prominent London colleges –
Imperial, King’s, University College London – have between a quarter and
nearly a third. Oxford has 24% and Cambridge 22%. My own university,
Manchester has 18% and most of the Russell Group of ‘research
universities’ are in the top ranks of EU academic staff employers.
EU academics are equally important in the core subject areas that are
vital to our long-term economic health. So areas like physics (26%),
chemical engineering (25%), biosciences (22%), chemistry (21%) and IT
(20%) are all heavily reliant on European talent.

So what?
Our global status isn’t, of course, just dependent on EU academics –
UK experts are our bedrock (70%) – but the other 30% that come from the
EU and the rest of the world are an important part of our global status.

Losing this talent – whether through demoralisation or deliberate
design – would have catastrophic effects. As Brian Cox puts it:
“Ministers must consider our global reputation before uttering
platitudinous sound-bites for domestic consumption, and think much more
carefully about how to ensure that the UK remains the best place in the
world to educate and to be educated. [UK Universities] are everything
the government claims it wants our country to become; a model for a
global future.”

“The current rhetoric is the absolute opposite of what is required.
The UK appears, from outside, to be increasingly unwelcoming and
backward looking”.” They should be even more careful about the policies
they enact and the way they are implemented...

January 20, 2017

The quality and reliability of Narcissistic Supply are, therefore, of paramount importance. The more the narcissist convinces himself that his sources are perfect, grand, comprehensive, authoritative, omniscient, omnipotent, beautiful, powerful, rich, brilliant, and so on -- the better he feels. The narcissist has to idealise his Supply Sources in order to highly value the supply that he derives from them. This leads to over-valuation. The narcissist forms a fantastic picture of his sources of Narcissistic Supply.

The fall is inevitable. Disillusionment and disappointment set in. The slightest criticism, disagreement, or differences of opinion are interpreted by the narcissist as an all out assault against the foundations of his existence. The previous appraisal is sharply reversed: the same people are judged stupid who were previously deemed to possess genius, for instance.

This is the devaluation part of the cycle and it is very painful to both the narcissist and the devalued (for very different reasons, of course). The narcissist mourns the loss of a promising "investment opportunity" (Source of Narcissistic Supply). The "investment opportunity" mourns the loss of the narcissist...https://youtu.be/KvEc0ojAWqU

Among the 535 senior officials who declared their ethnicity, 510 were
white, 15 were Asian and 10 were recorded as “other including mixed”.
Thirty senior academics either refused or failed to record an ethnicity.

The figures also show universities employ more black staff as
cleaners, receptionists or porters than as lecturers or professors.

David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham and a former higher
education minister, said: “This is absolutely shocking. I am appalled
that higher education is so deeply unrepresentative of the country.

“Universities talk about widening participation and fair access but
the complete lack of diversity in senior positions sends out an
absolutely dreadful message to young people from ethnic minorities who
find themselves wondering whether university is for them or not.”

January 13, 2017

On page 7 the same paper appears but this time it lists 'Prof' Platon Alexiou as the first author:

However, a basic search on Google using the title of the above paper reveals that Professor Ioannis Michaloudis is the only author of this paper (below). 'Prof' Platon Alexiou is not listed or described either as a 'collaborator' or a co-author...

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Useful and informative Links

• Bad Apple Bullies - If you work as a teacher in Queensland, a Bad Apple Bully principal can destroy your health and your career with malicious gossip and secret sticky-notes.

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• Bully Online - Those who can, do. Those who can't, bully. Bully OnLine is the world's leading web site on workplace bullying and related issues which validates the experience of workplace bullying and provides confirmation, reassurance and re-empowerment.

• Suppression of dissent - The general field of "suppression of dissent" includes whistleblowing, free speech, systems of social control and related topics. The purpose of the site is to foster examination of these issues and action against suppression. It is founded on the assumption that openness and dialogue should be fostered to challenge unaccountable power.

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• The Workplace Bullying Institute is the sole United States organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying through public education, help for individuals, employer solutions and legislative advocacy.